The show that spawned the group — the telenovela Rebelde— has gained viewers throughout Latin America, Spain and the United States. Next, label EMI Televisa, a partnership between music company EMI and Spanish-language media producers Grupo Televisa, is considering marketing RBD to Asia.

There's talk of a movie or sitcom and upping the group's musical credibility: A new album will feature songs from writer Diane Warren and hot soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae, says EMI Music Latin America head Marco Bissi. And, though Bissi declines to confirm it, the group's website mentions a film collaboration with Hilary Duff.

All this has singer Christian Chavez — one of six in the group — thinking big. Among his hopes: working with Madonna, or maybe Shakira. "I think there's a lot of people we could dream about," he says, ticking off artists the group would love to collaborate with. "It would be a big, big list."

Chavez, 21, is on the phone from California, where the group is doing a photo shoot for an English-language album, one of two discs planned for RBD this year. The men — Chavez, Christopher Uckermann and Alfonso "Poncho" Herrera — and the women — Anahi Puente, Maite Perroni and Dulce Maria Espinoza — are ensconced in a house trying on casual clothes.

"I'm in black jeans, gray shirt and jacket," he says. "Pretty cool."

Did he expect all this? Not really.

"This was a little project," he says. "We never thought that this was going to grow so much, so this is the dream of my life."

It is a long way from the Rebelde tryouts in Mexico City in 2004, when producer and band manager Pedro Damian spent a month auditioning 200 people for the roles of students attending a high-class private school. From the start, he and Camilo Lara, general manager for EMI Music Mexico, had an eye for a TV-music crossover.

"I was looking for people who could sing and dance or at least have the potential," Damian says. "And, fortunately, I could get six who were quite able."

They weren't all strong singers, he admits, but vocal training has helped. He says that on stage, where the group is backed by a five-piece band, the vocalists never lip-sync.

"They are doing alright, I think," Damian says.

Chavez calls the stage experience "nirvana," but adds that the transition from relative unknowns to arena headliners has been an eye-opener.

"It's been pretty wild and crazy," he says. "At the beginning, when we came (to Los Angeles) for just autograph time, they canceled three of them because there were too many people outside of the place. That was totally new for us."